Matt Bell

THE END IS THE END

We enter the village after our long passagethrough the darkest parts of the woods,where there were no paths. We ask for food,for water, for story. The story begins. Nothingand the world precedes it. Each word expandsthe span of the ground. A girl, then a girl livingred hours, wearing a red dress, then a girl drapedin red, carrying a silver knife. Every object usefulonly in the sentence it appears. When the taleends, remember there is no future for the girl.No future for the girl and no future for uswho loved her. Only nothing. Nothingand the world.

Matt Bell is the author of the novel In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods, as well as two previous books, How They Were Found and Cataclysm Baby.